Construction of the Sh327 billion Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Nairobi will delay in some sections due to land disputes stalling compensation, Kenya Railway Corporation has said.
Project manager Maxwell Mengich said that
most of
the
earthwork
was
going
on in areas where
compensation has been duly done.
"We expect
to
have done 70 per cent of
the earthwork by the end of this year to pave way f or
concentrator
to
lay
the foundation of the railway line"he explained.
Speaking at Mtito Andei on Wednesday during tour of the project, Mengich said KR has been having a challenge
compensating land owners within some parts of Mombasa and Athi River due to ownership wrangles. He urged the National Land Commission to speed up investigations to solve
the
problem.
"Areas
from
Mombasa to Athi River covering 30km have been derailing the earthwork from going on,we expect the
land
title
deed
issues
to
be
solved
by
next
year
as the
earthwork
to
continues," Mengich said.
Kenya Railway CEO Atanas Maina denied reports that construction of the SGR is
experiencing structural failure.
"It is wrong for
people to say that the railway is experiencing structural a failure yet it has not been completed," he said.
So far, he added, the project has employed 30,000 workers
most of whom have been trained on production of railway building materials.
"The standard gauge railway project
has employed 10,000 Chinese workers with over 30,000 local workers
benefiting
out
of the slippers manufacturing factory at Kathekani which will remain operational upon project completion and will be used for the production of railway consumables," Maina said.
As part of the project, 76 bridges are being
constructed in the eight sections of the SGR route from Mombasa to Mtito Andei.